AM Radio PLEASE!!!!

I agree, please add AM to your players.

i want an mp3 player with both AM and FM radio and a full sized SD card slot,  that runs on one AA battery and navigates by folders. Is such a player so difficult to make?

AM radio is wonderful for listening to talk.  Depending upon the market, few cities have FM talk venues.

The advantage of AM is that the terrestrial signal hugs the ground at those relatively low frequencies.  It’s these lower frequencies, and longer wavelength, that is the principal difficulty for reception.

If you have a pocket AM radio, have a look at the antenna: it’s a bar of ferrite, with coils looped over the bar.  A tiny digital audio player needs a big antenna.  If you shrink this bar (which can be done), we run into a dilemma: the signal to noise ratio gets progressively worse.  Less signal, and the noise level creeps up.  Add to the mix that with AM (amplitude modulation), the system noise of the digital processor in close proximity to the receiver is an RF engineer’s nightmare.

Problems aside, we’ve seen the development of cool FM-on-a-chip devices over the years, but as AM is less popular for music, development of AM receivers has effectively remained stalled.  It’s a supply and demand issue at its core. 

I’d absolutely love to see a proper AM receiver in a SanDisk product, even if the variant is a bit larger.  In fact, don’t be afraid to put some wee buttons on the face of the device.  Let it be a radio and DAP combination.  There are few contenders in an open potential market.  If you had a telescoping antenna, that’s cool too.  But add the familiar SanDisk scroll wheel and a 10-key direct radio pad, plus the LCD display…I’d size it at the width of two e200s, with the same depth.  As it is a wee bit larger, you could use a small poly speaker like the Connect monitor.

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

I have to admit, without AM I use the radio on my Fuze very rarely.  Only one local college station carries talk on FM and the music stations simply have nothing to offer that can compete with my personal MP3 collection.  I only listen to FM in my car, and that’s because I have no good way to hook my player up in there.

It’s nice to have during weather emergencies and whatnot, but those are extremely rare around here, thank goodness…

Sansa should take a look at the Sony SRF-M37 portable radio and figure out how to implement an AM antenna in a similar way.  It is a very compact radio with excellent reception and I wouldn’t mind adding a little bulk to my MP3 player if it meant AM capaibility.  At times I have to carry around both my Sansa View and Sony radio, but I much prefer to consolidate all those features into one device.

"Sansa should take a look at the Sony SRF-M37 portable radio and figure out how to implement an AM antenna in a similar way.  It is a very compact radio with excellent reception and I wouldn’t mind adding a little bulk to my MP3 player if it meant AM capaibility.  At times I have to carry around both my Sansa View and Sony radio, but I much prefer to consolidate all those features into one device. "

The Sony SRF-M37 isn’t that small. The SRF-M97 is quite small and has both AM and FM. Even smaller in volume though, and with better sound quality was the analog Sony SRF-S83 AM/FM radio. Some keep talking about how large the bar antenna needs to be for AM. Notice how small the bar antenna is on the SRF-S83.

http://www.fixup.net/tips/srfs83/srfs83.htm

Here you go sports fans, this is brand new: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10078712-1.html

I’ll still have to catch Michael Savage in the car for the time being.

$229 for a 2 gig mp3 player just because it has AM radio? A 2 gig Fuze is around $63. For the $166 price difference, I could buy 11 Sony SRF-59 AM/FM radios!

“It seems more rational to just get a well-designed MP3 player and a separate portable AM radio”

http://reviews.cnet.com/mp3-players/c-crane-witness-am/4505-6490_7-33351260.html?tag=mncol;txt

Oh my gosh I totally agree!! I know FM might be better quality, but AM does actually have stations!

For the sound quality side what would happen if HD radio was added? This would be a chance to have something no other player has. You would still be able to do AM & FM.

thanks

barondla

Actually starting to use the FM on Fuze to listen to university radio station.

It would be even better if a player would be made that receives shortwave radio as well as AM and fm, and has a built in speaker.

I would never buy another player if SanDisk made an affordable player with an AM tuner.  If I want to hear music I’ll just listen to my MP3s.  Way better variety anyway.

The one cool thing about an AM Radio would be taking it to an Indians or Cavs game and be able to listen to the game. (Browns games are on FM already so no problem there).

@peregrine wrote:

The one cool thing about an AM Radio would be taking it to an Indians or Cavs game and be able to listen to the game. (Browns games are on FM already so no problem there).

 

Here in Toledo, we got the Tribe on FM. My problem with that is being a Tigers Fan. But your statement is why I want AM radio too.

I agree with everything that has been said, particularly reference to the Sony M37. If an MP3 player were that size (about 3" x 2.5" x 1" ) that would, I think, still be perfectly acceptable to most people.

Please make sure it still has a belt clip!

Message Edited by franktompson on 03-18-2010 02:49 AM

Message Edited by franktompson on 03-18-2010 02:50 AM

JK98… it is time to stop asking for a “full sized SD card slot”. Seriously. Things get smaller, dude. Not bigger. No need to go backwards because you don’t want to buy new cards. :wink:

"JK98… it is time to stop asking for a “full sized SD card slot”. Seriously. Things get smaller, dude. Not bigger. No need to go backwards because you don’t want to buy new cards. "

 I was talking about a full sized SDXC card slot, which allows the use of 64 GB and higher capacity SDXC cards. It might take many years before 64 GB and higher capacities are available in the micro SD size.

A player that can take a few micro SDHC cards at a time might be an answer, although using one 64 GB

SDXC card seems like a better idea than a player that has 4 slots to install 4 16 GB micro SDHC cards, or two

slots to use two 32 GB micro SDHC cards(they aren’t even available yet, and what about a year or so from now when 128 GB full sized SDXC cards become available?)

Who needs such high capacities? Think about high quality video and other uses that require plenty of space.

A two seat sports car might seem very nice for some, but not for a family of 6 or 8 people that needs much more space.

In many cities some AM stations are already being simulcast on FM HD frequencies. Just some of them though, not all of them. I guess it may take a number of years (if ever?)before all of them are simulcast on FM HD.

AM radio is perfect for voice communication as it is low bandwith and carries much further distances than FM, so it is ideal for rural areas. There is AM HD radio, so the designers of HD radio seem to feel that there is still a need for AM radio. I doubt that AM HD radio was intended as just a very temporary solution before AM radio is phased out.

How about a dab radio like the Cowon D2
But going back to am yes I prefer to listen to the am band for sports etc The fm side to my mp3 players rarely get used !!1

MP3 players aren’t just for music. They are also for audiobooks, podcasts, lectures, and hopefully news as well, if we see some practical ones with an AM tuner(don’t mention the C Crane Witness, as it is much too expensive!). I am still waiting for mp3 players that have variable speed playback with automatic pitch correction.